Why Is it Important to Act Now?
The Scope and impact of the problem
It is estimated that, in Latin America alone, between 6 and 8 million people are infected with the parasite, and 99% of these are not receiving treatment, either because they are unaware of their infection or because they do not know that treatment exists. The potential spread of the disease is also a cause for considerable concern: 65 million people live in areas of exposure and are at risk of contracting Chagas disease, and 28,000 new cases occur every year.
While significant progress has been made in the Americas on controlling vector-borne transmission, disease prevalence remains high in endemic areas due to a lack of sustained control. At the same time, the movement of affected populations to urban areas and other countries has led to the spread of the disease. As a result of these migratory flows, Chagas disease is now also a public health problem in countries where vector-borne transmission has never been documented.
Diverse and complex political, social and economic factors have favoured these migratory flows, with the search for higher-paying jobs and a better quality of life playing a decisive role in the spread of the infection. Chagas disease is now found in areas receiving migrant populations where no vector-borne transmission occurs. Nonetheless, even there, the infection continues to be transmitted in other ways. The disease is an emerging health problem in the United States, Canada and Spain as well as in other countries in Europe and the Western Pacific.
Context
Chagas disease is caused by infection with the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, a parasite that nests in various tissues, causing irreversible cardiac damage in 30% of patients with chronic disease and neurological or digestive lesions in 10%. Social and environmental factors are important in the areas where the disease is endemic and there is evidence of vector-borne transmission. Living in poor quality housing, in close proximity to animals and in rural or suburban areas, especially those affected by poverty and marginalisation, are all factors that increase the risk of infection.
The disease particularly targets the poorest and most vulnerable populations because the principal insect vector is a bloodsucking bug that lives in the adobe walls and thatched roofs typical of poor dwellings in rural areas and it feeds on people living in such houses
The deplorable consequence of the current situation is that, according to data published by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Chagas disease still causes some 12,000 deaths annually worldwide.
A recent study by the Brazilian Ministry of Health estimated that, in Brazil alone, 6,000 people die every year from Chagas disease.
